Women's Golf Heading to Norman Regional

LUBBOCK, Texas — The Texas Tech women’s golf team is heading back to postseason competition as the Red Raiders were chosen for the NCAA Norman Regional Wednesday evening during the official selection show on Golf Channel.

The Red Raiders will be the No. 10 seed in Norman, which features an impressive field that includes fellow Big 12 teams in top-seeded Texas, No. 5 Oklahoma and No. 6 TCU. The three-day tournament will be played out May 6-8 at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman.

“We’re excited,” head coach JoJo Robertson said. “This team hasn’t been to that course before, but our coaching staff has been in prior years and I think, stylistically, it fits our team well. Our team has worked hard to get to this point.”

Wednesday’s selection was the 19th all-time for the Red Raiders. Tech will need to finish in the top-six to advance to the NCAA Championships for the third time in the past five years. The 2019 NCAA Championships will be held at Blessings Golf Course in Fayetteville, Ark. on May 16-22.

Texas, who recently won the Big 12 Conference championship, will be the No. 1 seed in Norman, followed by the ACC champions in No. 2 Wake Forest. No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 8 Purdue and No. 9 Ole Miss, the SEC champions, round out the top 10 in the Norman Regional.

The Red Raiders are looking to build on their already successful season, where they recorded nine top-five finishes, including a team title at the Valspar Augusta Invitational on March 17th and a third place finish at the Bruzzy Challenge in Dallas to conclude the regular season.

Tech has benefited from strong play from their underclassmen led by sophomore sensation Sofia Garcia, who has had an historic season to date. Garcia is currently the highest-ranked individual in the Big 12, as she landed at No. 12 in the most recent Golfweek poll. She broke the single-round scoring record in March with a 64 at the BYU at Entrada Classic.

Garcia has also notched three individual titles this year and her current stroke average of 71.55, should it hold, would shatter the program record held by Gabby Barker and Kim Kaufman, who both hold the title at 72.3 strokes per round.

Louisa Brunt will be competing in the second regional of her young career, as the sophomore brings in a team second-best 74.50 stroke average with two top-10 finishes this season. The Red Raiders will also look to lean on the experience of Mami Yamamoto in postseason play, as the senior from Tokyo, Japan will be competing in a regional for a fourth-straight year.

Tee times for the NCAA Norman Regional will be announced in the days leading up to the tournament. Live scoring will be provided all three days on Golfstat.com.

NCAA Norman Regional Field

1. Texas

2. Wake Forest

3. Florida

4. Arizona State

5. Oklahoma

6. TCU

7. Pepperdine

8. Purdue

9. Mississippi

10. Texas Tech

11. Mississippi State